On May 14, 11:05=EF=BF=BDpm, This is Sparta <RomanEmpi...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> McLame is half senile and Obama is a born liar and con man. Again the
> American people get the shaft.
Does it really matter?
America is a Plutocracy
Definition: Plutocracy
Domain: Politics/Sociology
Context: The corruption of democracy, sources of political
corruption, class conflict, cor****ations and politics, the mass media
and politics
The term "plutocracy" is formally defined as government by the
wealthy, and is also sometimes used to refer to a wealthy class that
controls a government, often from behind the scenes. More generally, a
plutocracy is any form of government in which the wealthy exercise the
preponderance of political power, whether directly or indirectly.
.
http://www.progressiveliving.org/plutocracy_defined.htm
The Carlyle Group Example:
1001 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Suite 220 South
Wa****ngton, DC 20004-2505
United States
(202) 729-5626
Fax: (202) 347-1818
www.carlyle.com
With nearly $31 billion under management, the Carlyle Group is one of
the world's largest private equity firms. Since the firm's founding in
1987, the group has invested $14.3 billion in 414 transactions. But
the Wa****ngton, D.C.-based company is quick to tell you that it
doesn't "swing for the fences" - or go for home-runs. Instead, the
group pursues a conservative investment approach, preferring to hit
more singles (and doubles and triples) with fewer strikeouts. Indeed,
Carlyle points to its caution as a trait that sets it apart from
competitors- that and its team of more than 300 investment
professionals, including 138 MBAs, 24 JDs and 14 MD/PhDs.
Although the group considers investments in a wide range of
industries, it focuses on a few key sectors, including telecom and
media, real estate, aerospace, information technology, energy and
industrial. Although the firm dabbles in venture capital, leveraged
finance and real-estate, the majority of its deals are management-led
buyouts. Geographically, the Carlyle Group is a global company with 24
offices in 13 countries, and its European and Asian investments
account for nearly 30 percent of assets.
Ciao to Capital
In March 2008, Carlyle Group's mortgage bond fund Carlyle Capital
confirmed investors' worst fears, validating rumors that it would be
liquidating all of its approximately $22 billion in assets, mostly
made up of investments in securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac. Carlyle Capital's collapse, which The Wall Street Journal called
an "embarrassment" for Carlyle Group, came after just 19 months of
being in existence and eight months after its foray as a public
company. According to Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein, some moves
designed to benefit the wobbly financial markets may have backfired.
In a statement, he said that the U.S. Federal Reserve's intervention
that was supposed to assist with the liquidity emergency ultimately
sped up the fund's end.
Read More...
http://www.vault.com/companies/re****ts/core****t_main.jsp?product_id=3D36624&=
ch_id=3D261
The question of whether or not the United States could be said to be a
plutocracy is discussed at length in Who Rules America, by sociologist
G. William Domhoff. There Domhoff remarks: "The idea that a relatively
fixed group of privileged people might shape the economy and
government for their own benefit goes against the American grain.
Nevertheless . . . the owners and top-level managers in large income-
producing properties are far and away the dominant power figures in
the United States. Their cor****ations, banks, and agribusinesses come
together as a cor****ate community that dominates the federal
government in Wa****ngton. Their real estate, construction, and land
development companies form growth coalitions that dominate most local
governments.
In the US, plutocratic governance is abetted by mass media owned by
the hyperwealthy and operated in their own economic self-interest, the
failure to provide public financing to political candidates, poor
oversight of the electoral process, elitist Supreme Court
appointments, the organization of wealth into socially-irresponsible
cor****ations, the collapse of meaningful regulatory regimes,
plutocratically financed "think tanks" (propaganda distribution
centers), and an impoverished educational system that has failed
utterly to provide Americans with the elements of political literacy
(all of which have their foundations in philosophy).
Sieg Heil
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